Nutrition and Picky Eaters: Can You Help?

Since our child was exposed to a large variety of vegetables and fruits at a young age, she has always enjoyed consuming them in myriad ways. When children's exposure to fruits and veggies has been limited, however, they don't always like consuming things that are so different from what they've grown accustomed to eating (and this many times carries into adulthood).

It's vital that children be exposed to a variety of foods, as often as possible, while growing up. For the vast majority of children, however, that has not been the case. Packaged, processed, and fast foods are a standard part of our society; we don't think twice about serving such foods to our children. Everyone is doing it, it's affordable and convenient, and they like it!

Also, it's not easy feeding our children healthy foods when all their friends are eating brightly colored, artificially flavored foods that seem more appealing to such young eyes and mouths. Mothers shouldn't feel bad about what they've done in the past; we are all a product of our society. Many don't realize the foods they are feeding their children are actually harmful. However, once we learn about nutrition and what is and isn't healthy, if we continue to serve such foods to our children, then maybe it's time to take a closer look at why we're doing so.

With all of that aside, however, what are we to do if our children haven't developed sophisticated palates and the foods we know are healthy for them bring no appeal at all to our young ones? Well, we need to get clever! First, be sure to model good eating on your part. Make note of how beautiful and delicious different foods you consume are, all while not forcing the foods onto children who will refuse because they don't like others pressuring them. Remember to respect and educate children, rather than trying to control them.

After modeling good eating on your part, try also to prepare fun dishes. Don't overlook the draw of a good name, either. Get creative and name the foods you share in ways that will attract some interest. When we had young guests in our home saying they didn't like spinach, we served Mowgli Jungle Mix and noted how only those in the jungle get to eat such delicacies (and, oh how lucky they were that we magically acquired such rare foods to share with them). Even leaving brightly colored fruits and vegetables, peeled and ready to eat, out on kitchen counters and in the refrigerator can sometimes bring a picky eater to a point of wanting to try something. Of course, each child is different and what works for one wont always work for all. Just don't give up!

This is a big issue for many parents. So, as part of the Pure Jeevan family, we hope you'll offer some suggestions in the comments, below, on what you have tried or thought might work for picky eaters. Together, we can collectively help each other so much!

Lots of love to all of you,

Wendi

XOXOXO

Original Comments

Below, we have included the original comments from this blog post. Additional comments may be made via Facebook, below.

On May 10, 2011, monkie wrote:

I have one that doesn't care for spinach (or most greens), but he'll drink it in a smoothie as long as there are some berries in there :) I don't try to hide it or pretend it isn't there, because I don't want to lose his trust, but I'm lucky to have kids with a "I'll try anything once" mentality

On May 10, 2011, Wendi wrote:

That's a really good point about not wanting to lose a child's trust, Monkie. Thanks for bringing that up. Disguising the spinach with a fun name *was* hiding the fact of what it was. :-/ I hope others will share some better ideas of helping children consume more healthy foods. :-)

Thanks!

Lots of love to you,

Wendi

XOXOXO

On May 11, 2011, Linda wrote:

I found that even when you start feeding your children healthy food as babies, as they get older they still develop their own preferences and will often refuse to eat what they have been eating for years. I found the trick was to let them think they are making the choices by making it fun for them to try new things. Games with small prizes for the child who tries the most new foods in a week or comes up with some new food combos etc. helped.

On May 11, 2011, Carole Corlew wrote:

My husband called the lightly steamed broccoli he gave our son "trees." And our son loved that and the broccoli. I also put spinach in fruit smoothies and did not announce that ingredient because my son insisted he "hated" spinach. After a few smoothies guzzled down, he found out and was perfectly fine with it and loves the smoothies now. Maybe it was his age, he was in elementary school, not a toddler. My husband also insisted he was "allergic" to all deep greens and I gave him the same smoothie. It was a revelation to him and he would have NEVER tried the smoothie knowing greens were in there. He now green juices with me most nights, consuming everything -- chard, beet greens and beets, wheat grass, kale. So I am just want to point out that sometimes just not advertising every single ingredient in a drink can work out very well when you are dealing with extremely stubborn types of a certain age.

On May 11, 2011, Carole Corlew wrote:

I just want to add that I wouldn't have given that smoothie to my husband if he truly had an allergy to greens or anything else. I knew that was hyperbole, however. I had a college roommate who said she was allergic to cucumbers. We didn't believe her and hid some at the bottom of a salad. After a couple of bites she got up from the table and was very sick. Lesson learned!

On May 11, 2011, monkie wrote:

My ex-husband used to sneak mushrooms into my food... made me sick every time (even when I LIKED the way the food tasted). I don't think it's a true food allergy, I just don't tolerate them well.( )

I'm lucky enough to have kids that stay open-minded when trying things, so I don't have to hide ingredients. My husband is a whole other story LOL

Wendi, we felt horrible. And I learned that lesson well. Later, my FIL reported an allergy to bananas and I made sure to keep them well away from him. But my husband would laugh when talking about his alleged greens allergy because I had seen him eating spinach and the like mixed into salads from time to time with no ill effects.

That is interesting about avocados. Maybe the combo of the color and texture is too much for Jim. That one is personally hard to imagine although I do respect that. I mean, a perfect avocado that is ripe but not yet mushy is one of the world's great wonders, I think. But then, I love to be at the ocean but can't stand to walk barefoot on sand. So we are all eccentric in some way.